That Concert ROCKED!

What a grrrrreat show! Holy Cow- It was awesome! We got to the arena about 30 minutes prior to start time. By the time we walked ALL THE WAY AROUND the arena to find our seats, there was only about 10 minutes left to wait. Yes, we walked all the way around because when we came in, I saw a sign for section 202, so naturally we started walking so the numbers were going up-- well --- the sections are very large, and we found 215 after a 20 minute walk around, then Chris said I think we walked around three corners of the building, looks at the other sections and says, "hmm... I think we came in at 201 right?" I say yeah and he says "okay well we're right by the exit we need, just keep walking the same direction when we go to leave..." Duh! Like my legs didn't hurt enough from all the jump roping I've been doing to get that amazing looking calf. From now on I'll look at both sections signs, we're used to the Colt's games where there are like sections 200- 235 and such. ANYWAY - She looked great, her pre-recorded tracks sounded great - she remembered to ask "What's up Chicago?" about half way through. No crazy gimmicks, no technical problems it was just awesome! And we can still hear perfect because we had earplugs - Which made the whole concert thing SO MUCH BETTER! I think I'm getting too old for this stuff... hehehe..... So Enjoy the photos above and the videos below, Click HERE for more of both- Sorry the camera moves so much, we were "shakin' that thang," and just couldn't stop!

Womanizer

Toxic

Baby One More Time

BOMT - Facing Us

Circus

PCD - I Hate This Part

New Family Blogger!

Very Exciting News here------------

One of my cousins by way of the Family Tree has started a blog of all his own! You can check out his blog listed with the other family blogs titled- Rodz's Blog. He has all his information listed there, but he lives in Wales and is 16 years old. He is very interested in the family tree and really likes music. So go to his site, be sure to leave a comment letting him know your reading his blog. (It's REEEEAAAAALLLLYYYYY nice when people just say hello, letting us know that they visited, and read what we had to say.)

So visit Rodz at http://rhodri-walters-blog.blogspot.com/

It's A B!

Chris got his final grade last night for the class he just finished and he passed with a B! One down, and another one already started. He had to give a speech on the company layoff's and job terminations - he said he just started bawling while he was trying to give it. Classmates did comment on how it was different to see it from a manager's perspective. They said they only had to see people getting walked out, while Chris was having to actually walk them out. The class is down to 4 people now, so we're not sure if they will host another class at building 1, or if he will start having to go to the Merriville site for classes. We can only wait to see at this point.

Hanging Together

We had a fun weekend hanging out together. It was laid back, but had some small fun events going on as well. This was a very not-like-us weekend that we loved! Usually we always find a place to go or something to do which requires an over-night stay. Last weekend was actually really nice as well with the maple syrup festival and all. Below are some small craft projects I put together on my day off last week. The first is our new "Wii-Supply Box". I took a cardboard box that our Melaleuca order came in and attached some extra cloth that I had lying around. Then I folded two of the flaps to make a small shelf on the front half, and covered it with cloth too - and WA-LA! My second project I did that day was take some emptied candle holders and made a shelf decoration. I used some 3-d paints, though I'm not sure what to fill them with yet, I thought of those decorative glass rocks, or just cotton balls, or some fake potting stuff and flowers (though it's fun to toy with the thought of real flowers- but that be long-term work that I'm not willing to commit to.)






As for this weekend, we worked the entire 80 degree day on Friday. In the evening it was still warm, but we went to see Fast & Furious. We were planning on going to the drive-in, but as soon as I saw it was no longer F&F, but Hannah Montana - no thanks. We opted for the five buck club here in town. Saturday was a little stormy with scattered showers and some thunder. We enjoyed the warm breezy day by walking the downtown strip. We went to see what Truffles had to offer hoping it would be similar to Amanda's- Reuben's - but no, it is just cakes and pastries. We hear they have excellent cakes though. Sometime we'll try them. We saw this little squirrel on our walk. It was sooo cute because he looked like a statue, then finally moved just an inch, so I took his picture just cause.



Chris took the jeep to get a quote for a new muffler - $800 dollars! Apparently everything needs to be replaced and it needs a converter. So yeah, the guy kept telling Chris, "We can work with you on this, we have financing." Chris said, "Do you see that hunk-of-junk? It's not even worth 800 dollars!" ... I snuck away to do some clothes shopping and everything at the SA was $1!! - I got a cute NWT (yes, that's NEW WITH TAGS) White House Black Market dress ($168 retail!!).

We spent most of our Saturday sitting on the porch listening to the scanner. It got pretty exciting with a woman passed out on a toilet down the road from us, and the other direction of the next road had a mom and daughter fighting and mom was throwing the daughter's stuff on the yard. We walked down that way, but couldn't see it from our road and decided to just go back to our positions on the porch. In the evening, we went down the street to watch out neighbor's daughter Mikayla perform as an Ompa-Lompa in her school's production of Willy Wonka Jr. She was great, watch out hollywood- she's your next Halle Berry.



Sunday I did laundry and Chris did his homework. We did not leave the house until it was time to head towards South Bend to meet with Darrell for a late lunch/early dinner. We ate at Ponderosa's! Yum, it was good. We have not eaten there in a VERY long time. We both tried out the new semi- looks good. I took a picture of the drawing Lizzy made for Darrell a looooooonnnnnng time ago. He still has it hanging in there. As we were driving through the toll booth to get on the toll road (love the IPass) we had to stop for a family crossing the road. Hahaha! I love it.

He's Certified!

Last week Chris took his Refrigeration tests, there were three 25 questions tests that he took. On Friday he got official notice that he is an EPA Certified Refrigeration Technician. Section 1 he scored a 96, Section 2: 96 and Section 3: 92! Basically now he can work on home, industrial cooling systems, anything with refrigerant in it. Way to go Chris!

"Go Cubs Go, Go Cubs Go...

Hey Chicago what do you say, the cubs are gonna win today!"

If I'm posting it, then you know what it means.... We're going to a Cubs game.. and not just going to any Cubs game, we are treating Isabela and her Boy friend Felipe to America's Past Time. And I have to say, I'm very excited that Isabela said she wanted to go to a baseball game during our phone call before she left Brazil. Because I have a whole pool full of Cubs memories at Wrigley Field and I have not been in soooo long, that my inner child is jumping up and down screaming for joy to be revisiting such a wonderful experience. (Thanks Mom and Dad) Every time Chris and I are in Chicago, I always ask, "Do you think they are doing tours through Wrigley today?" Usually they are not because we always go on the weekends, and usually with other plans and run out of time.

I remember the hustle and bustle of getting in the gates before the games, though I don't actually remember the game.... But I do remember going to the Cubs Clinic and it getting rained out.... but... we got to sit under the terrace and a few of the Cubs players came out and shared different tips, tricks and techniques with us. Specifically - Joe Girardi - he taught me how to stand when I bat on those bleachers, and I'll never forget, he was the dreamiest. :)

Chris says that the last time he went to a game was in high school with Lisa McMahon and her family. They went to the Field Museum before the game. So we are both pretty excited. I think we were going to try and go to a game later in the year, but SUPER Thanks Isabela for giving us that push, because you know us.... it's be next year and we'd be saying the same thing... "I think we're gonna try...." :)

A Lesson for Perez

I'm sorry, but can I just rant for a moment? Has anyone seen the Miss USA pageant hoopla from last night? To fill you in, the Miss USA pageant was last night in Las Vegas and Perez Hilton was a "celebrity judge". Miss California had the highest scores in all categories, yet earned first runner-up. This is said to be because when Perez Hilton asked her about gay marriage, she replied that she's happy she lives in a place where people can decide whom they want to marry, but her belief is that marriage is between a man and a woman... suddenly she's knocked out of first place because Perez Hilton wanted a more "politically correct" answer. Then he goes on his site and posts a video calling her a number of nasty names as if in true low-class, someone got their feelings hurt and needs to think before they speak fashion. My opinion is that Perez Hilton needs to understand that every other person has a right to their beliefs and opinions just as he does. If he wants to be respected for what he believes, then he needs to learn to respect others for what they believe.

This is not intended to buff the thought that Perez has the power to control who wins or loses, but the fact that one misguided Zero, or under scored judge can cost someone a top spot because undoubtedly it was probably a close scoring contest to begin with.

Weekend Festival

Friday morning I started our crock pot stew. It was goooood. Chris ended up going out with some people from work, so I ate by myself. But he got home early (they met up with some people that had gotten laid off recently.) Then we played each other in Tetris, and then played a game where we worked together to clear as many lines as possible and it's harder than you might think.

Saturday we had no real plans. Chris found a Maple Syrup Festival going on in Wakarusa, Indiana. Soooo... we decided to do this. It was about an hour and thirty minute drive. First of all it was a cute little town, and every other yard on almost every street was taking full advantage of the festival by having a yard sale. I'm not sure how close it is to Amish Country, but there is definitely a large Amish Community near-by. Lots of cute little girls in dresses, and little toddlers in their homemade overalls. The teenage boys all had the homemade pants, and shirts - but I'm curious about the hats...a lot of them had stocking caps on? Chris and I summed it up to "gang related" - hahaha! Okay so it does not seem so funny now. Anyway, there was some really cool booths on the strip. We watched BED RACES! And can I just say, it looked so insane, but so fun at the same time. We enjoyed free popcorn (yes you still get things for free at these festivals,) and while we ate it, we sat down and watched a guy sculpt a giant bear out of a large stump with a chain saw. We also bought a large cutting stone from one of the booths, and we enjoyed an elephant ear with a lemon shake-up! YUM, FAIR FOOD. Our last stop was to the Sugar Camp where we learned how to tap trees (again) and watched as the guy heated it all up to make Pure Maple Syrup. It was well worth the drive to get there... and yes, I forgot the camera and we DID remember to buy some of the Pure Maple Syrup. I'm making pancakes and sausage this weekend if any one wants to come visit.

Our Newly Decorated Guest Room

So we finally stopped avoiding redecorating the guest room. We painted it "Radiant Lilac". This was an easy color choice for us, because it looked great with all the home interiors that I had just laying in the room, and collecting dust in other random places.

I started working on my part of the room while Chris was at work... a perk to working part-time. We have found that painting with SUPER PAINT is much better then using cheaper paint when you don't really want to paint it two or three times.

Yumm... all this work is making me hungry.

Seriously though, I would make a terrible painter. Do not call me for your future painting needs - It's boring and I don't like it.

Chris says he enjoys it, so call him if you need some painting done that you don't want to do yourself.

Chris and I paint rooms with a deal, I paint the bottom half, he paints the top. If it needs a second coat, I paint for a few minutes, find an excuse to stop "just for a minute" and he finishes it.

Here it is - Almost all finished. I bought the quilt today at JCPenny along with new sheets and pillow cases. The quilt does not look to match as well in the picture, but the lilac color is around the center patch and in the more yellow squares. I'm a little disappointed, but it does not look as mismatched in-person.

More like Home

Tonight we begin painting Isabela's old bedroom... uh, just the walls actually. The trim is in SERIOUS need of being painted, but since our landlady wants it to be exactly the same, and has a particular type of paint she wants, we best wait till she is able to go to the paint store with us to pick it up. I have already started shopping around for new bedding and curtains. The other decorations we have for the room already match, it was the easiest color decision ever. Hopefully it looks good, I'll post some pictures tomorrow (since I can now) of how it's looking...whoa! Time flew by this morning, I got to get dressed and get my make up on for work!

Ha, Ha, Ha, Finally Pictures!

At the airport waiting for the plane to whisk Bela off to sunshine and beaches -

What we watched as we waited...

Passing time while we wait longer...

Saying SEE YA through the glass between the terminal and us

Watching as she boards the plane

The last glimpse of her backpack as she boards the plane.

Our February bike ride.

Showing off my bright new spring outfit...trying to tease the Spring weather to come play

Tigger shows Chris all the different ways to use the wii fit board -

As a bed...

As a table...

or as a pillow...

Rachel had her first competition outside of the Palmer civic center at the University of Illinois.

Kristina thinks she's cute, but one day, I'll get her back.

Rachel with the flowers Chris and I bought for her.

Makenna found a better way to play with the wii tennis racket, use it like a real one!

Looking Fly in Uncle Chris' sunglasses.

And being adorable as our waitress..

Chris drives the train at the Engineering Open House

Makenna decides to show him how the kids are driving these days.

Here is when we met up with the girls and friends at Winter Park for a little geocaching.

We found a snake right at the start of our first hunt.

Rachel and the girls climbed a few trees.

Hey, hey - this was our second find of the day.

Then Chris and I found one in MC a few days later.

Going to Austin's Birthday Party!

Where he shows off his briefcase, and stamp collection.

There is a scavenger hunt for prize filled eggs! Ashley helps Devon.

Looks like the Austin and Friends are really enjoying the pinata that Uncle Chris and I got him for his birthday gift.

Casi just about gets knocked to the ground when Ally pulls the right string!

Devon looks happy with everything that he got!

Going inside the kids look at all the cool stuff they got in their eggs, and from the pinata.

The pinata and eggs had some sticky men in them, and once they started sticking to the ceiling, the kids started looking for someone to get them down...

And they found their sucker.. Actually Chris and Casi were in suckered into pulling men off the ceiling.

This is what I started with

But I worked real hard...

This was my result!

Chris spent the entire weekend fixing my blower, I had to drive with my glove compartment gone for a few days.

The simple lamp from hobby Lobby,

transformed into my one of a kind lamp!


Bed Room Wall Decor ~

Wall Decor~

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I'd just like to say that I was adult and did not play with my napkin.

Can't take him no where...

Rachel

Ashley